What we actually saw
Searching a specific production query from a browser signed into nothing, Google's AI Overview named a small list of local production companies by name, with a one-line description of each, before listing individual web results below. Being named there, ahead of the standard search results, is worth more than a normal ranking spot because it's the first thing a reader sees, and often the only thing they read.
It's not a separate system
The businesses named in an AI Overview overlap almost entirely with the businesses already showing in Google's map pack for that search. The signals that get you into one get you into the other: a complete Google Business Profile, a real volume of reviews, and a website whose content actually answers the question being asked.
The two numbers that matter most
Research into local ranking factors puts Google Business Profile signals at roughly a third of what decides local ranking, and reviews at roughly a sixth. Together that's close to half the equation, and neither one is a website change: both live entirely outside the site.
What we did differently on this site
Every service page here carries FAQ structured data, the same format Google pulls answers from for AI Overviews. It's a necessary condition, not a sufficient one: the profile and the reviews still have to be there.